Friday, August 7, 2009

SHAH ALAM: There were no traces of prescription drugs or alcohol in the stomach, urine and blood samples taken from the remains of political aide Teoh Beng Hock.

The inquest into his death was told that toxicology tests on Teoh’s biological specimens were also conducted to determine if there were traces of poison or volatile drugs in them.

Chemist Zaihara Awang, who is the seventh witness, said she used a testing method which could identify 300,000 chemical compounds to test one sample each of Teoh’s urine and stomach contents and two samples of his blood.

Lawyer Gobind Singh Deo, who is holding a watching brief for Teoh’s family, asked Zaihara if she had thought of other possibilities apart from merely testing the samples for drugs, alcohol and poison.

“No, I did what was required by police and relied on case history. In this case, there was no indication that the deceased had been exposed to poison such as in the form of gas,” she said.

When coroner Azmil Muntapha Abas asked Zaihara if it could be detected from the toxicology report if Teoh was pushed to his death, the chemist replied the test would not indicate that, although she added she was not experienced enough to answer the question.

The inquest also heard that a test to detect the adrenaline content in Teoh’s blood, which would have determined if he had panicked before his death, was not carried out.Zaihara explained that this was because the police had not instructed her to do so.

Her scope of duty, she said, only involved testing biological specimens to determine if there were drugs, alcohol and poison in them.

Saiful Fazamil Mohd Ali, another chemist, testified that a piece of window latch found near Teoh’s body appeared to be the same variety with the ones from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission office windows. However, he could not say for sure if the broken piece of latch had come from one of the commission’s windows.

Beng Hock's baby boy born

Important!

Sdr Teoh Beng Hock (1979-2009)

We are mourning the death of Sdr Teoh Beng Hock who passed away on 16th July 2009.

Sdr Beng Hock was invited by the Selangor MACC (Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission) to assist in their investigation into constituency allocations. He went to the MACC Headquarters at around 5.40pm on 15th July 2009 but never came back. His body was found on the 5th floor of Wisma Masalam at 1pm on 16th July, less than 20 hours later. The MACC office is located on the 14th floor of the same building.

Sdr Beng Hock previously worked as a reporter for Sin Chew Daily and joined the office of Selangor Exco, Ean Yong Hian Wah after the 2008 General Election as the latter's political secretary. He was a helpful and diligent young man, liked by all who worked with him and cherished by those who are his good friends.

The death of Sdr Beng Hock is shrouded in mystery and a slew of unanswered questions. It involved a power law enforcement agency in the country – MACC - that was supposed to protect the interests of the people and the country. There have been many police custodial deaths but this is the first case of death in the custody of the MACC.

We demand answers and a detailed explanation of the death of Sdr Beng Hock. We demand justice for Sdr Beng Hock!